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José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones net worths: Inside the near $3.9 billion bid to buy San Diego Padres
Billionaire José E. Feliciano's group is nearing a $3.9 billion purchase of the San Diego Padres, which would be the highest price for an MLB team.
The San Diego Padres are nearing a sale to a group led by billionaire investor José E. Feliciano and his wife Kwanza Jones in a deal valued at approximately $3.9 billion, according to reports cited by The Guardian. If completed, the transaction would mark the highest price ever paid for a Major League Baseball franchise, surpassing the $2.42 billion paid by Steve Cohen for the New York Mets in 2020.
The deal still requires approval from at least 75% of MLB’s 30 owners.
Net worths and ownership
Feliciano, co-founder of private equity firm Clearlake Capital, has an estimated net worth of $3.9 billion, according to Forbes. His firm holds a controlling stake in Chelsea FC as part of a consortium that includes Todd Boehly and Mark Walter.
Publicly available information on Jones’s individual net worth is limited, and no widely cited estimate has been confirmed by major financial trackers. She is known to be involved in investment and philanthropic ventures alongside Feliciano.
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Bidding process
The Padres sale drew interest from several prominent investors. Reported finalists included Dan Friedkin, Tom Gores and Joe Lacob.
CNBC recently valued the average MLB team at $2.95 billion, with the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers leading at $9 billion and $8 billion respectively.
The sale process follows an internal dispute within the Seidler family after the death of former chairman Peter Seidler in 2023. His widow, Sheel Seidler, filed a lawsuit alleging “fiduciary breaches of trust, fraud, conversion and egregious acts of self-dealing” in a bid to block her brother-in-law from taking control of the team.
She later dropped most of those claims.
John Seidler currently serves as the franchise’s control person and had said when the sale process began that it would be conducted “with integrity and professionalism” while maintaining a focus on winning.
The Padres have reached the playoffs four times in the past six seasons, including a National League Championship Series appearance in 2022.
The reported $3.9 billion valuation is expected to feature in upcoming labour discussions, with MLB’s collective bargaining agreement set to expire in December. Owners are expected to push for a salary cap, while the players’ union has argued rising franchise values weaken that case.
No official timeline for final approval of the Padres sale has been disclosed.
